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I'm getting a chance to introduce my 12-year-old niece to the gaming hobby this weekend. Due to her dad showing her the " gamers " movies on Amazon we are doing pathfinder this weekend. I'm not a big Pathfinder fan but I'm doing it for my niece. Anyone have any advice for me running Pathfinder for kids?

Pregens to choose from, and get right into a light adventure. Keep it black and white and don't have more than 1 "twist" in the plot. Give them RP prompts but only focus on the RP as much as they are comfortable with. Keep battles fun and simple, with one or two (at most) interesting tactical options that are optional. Roll with their ideas and don't try to railroad them into the light plot you've outlined. If they explore something else then run with it!

Make sure it's fun for them. As they play, key off of what they're enjoying and what they're losing interest in. Don't be afraid to parallel a simple plot from a tv show they enjoy, or a movie.

Instead of saying "No" to ideas, try to more often say "Yes, and..." or "Yes, but..." Reward their creativity.

With pregens, make sure the abilities are summarized on the sheet. Include a page number for the reference of the full text. Make it a one-stop shop for character information so they can play more easily without having to look everything up.

Riftmaker wrote:I'm getting a chance to introduce my 12-year-old niece to the gaming hobby this weekend. Due to her dad showing her the " gamers " movies on Amazon we are doing pathfinder this weekend. I'm not a big Pathfinder fan but I'm doing it for my niece. Anyone have any advice for me running Pathfinder for kids?

I ran Pathfinder for many many years before wandering off to greener pastures and simpler systems. My honest suggestion for introducing someone to the game would be to pick up D0: Hollow's Last Hope. Its a pretty easy and straight forward module about helping a town with a disease thats spreading due to tainted wells. It involves a bit of town RP with the local herbalist, some wilderness adventuring, and finally a short dungeon crawl through a ruined monastery. The module in total is only about 15 pages, and can be ran in an afternoon even after character creation (if you choose to go that route). Plus, the module is free on Paizo's website (https://paizo.com/products/btpy82r0?Gam ... -Last-Hope).

I think its actually written for D&D 3.x, but I've ran it using the stats in the book and in conjunction with the Pathfinder Bestiary with absolutely no problems before. So you wouldn't honestly need to convert anything. Also, it has four continuation modules if you end up hooking her on the game. Crown of the Kobold King, Revenge of the Kobold King, Hungry are the Dead, and The Demon Within. It makes for a really interesting story arc, and the region even has its own setting guide if you want more information for the adventures. (found here: https://paizo.com/products/btpy83yv?Pat ... kmoon-Vale).

For characters, I would grab a few of the iconics from here: https://paizo.com/products/btpy9a64?Com ... Characters (Download link is on the right hand side, I would stick to the classes from the core book for a novice, especially the original "core four" i.e. Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard). You can also just google pre-gen characters to use instead.

Beyond that, I think that Glistam made some solid suggestions about keeping it simple. Give them the prompts, find out what they latch on to, and try not to kill them. Pathfinder is designed with a four player balance in mind like most modern games. If she's going to be the only one playing, give her plenty of opportunities to work around fights, or offer negotiation options, or allow her to flee without much real pursuit (though probably a little, just for the tension of it).

Also, a give a resounding second endorsement to the "yes, and . . . " or "Yes, but . . .". And I'll add in a "don't let the stifling rules for everything and overbearing complexity of the system itself get in the way of the 'cool factor'". Pathfinder is in the 3.x mindset of having a rule or feat to cover every situation, and I can imagine that for a 12 year old it might get in the way when they're first learning the game. On the other hand though, it might get them heavily invested in learning the rules and all that, so could be a win-win, who knows.

For real though, I ran Pathfinder since they did their open beta test for the original game, and played 3.x for about a decade before that, so if you want any help or have any questions that I might be able to help with, hit me up with a PM and I'll do what I can to help.

Captain_Nibbz wrote:

Riftmaker wrote:I'm getting a chance to introduce my 12-year-old niece to the gaming hobby this weekend. Due to her dad showing her the " gamers " movies on Amazon we are doing pathfinder this weekend. I'm not a big Pathfinder fan but I'm doing it for my niece. Anyone have any advice for me running Pathfinder for kids?

I ran Pathfinder for many many years before wandering off to greener pastures and simpler systems. My honest suggestion for introducing someone to the game would be to pick up D0: Hollow's Last Hope. Its a pretty easy and straight forward module about helping a town with a disease thats spreading due to tainted wells. It involves a bit of town RP with the local herbalist, some wilderness adventuring, and finally a short dungeon crawl through a ruined monastery. The module in total is only about 15 pages, and can be ran in an afternoon even after character creation (if you choose to go that route). Plus, the module is free on Paizo's website (https://paizo.com/products/btpy82r0?Gam ... -Last-Hope).

I agree. I ran this adventure for my kids and they had a blast. It's simple and straightforward with lots of room to customize based on the needs of the group.
The key is to provide just enough opportunity for choice that the child retains a sense that they matter to the story, but keep the options simple enough that they are not overwhelmed. Anxiety can kill interest quickly.
You might also consider picking up the beginner box set. It has a selection of cardboard miniatures based on the 4 core classes (fighter, rogue, mage, cleric) and an assortment of monsters, as well as a very basic adventure aimed at teaching people to play the game.

Riftmaker wrote:I'm getting a chance to introduce my 12-year-old niece to the gaming hobby this weekend. Due to her dad showing her the " gamers " movies on Amazon we are doing pathfinder this weekend. I'm not a big Pathfinder fan but I'm doing it for my niece. Anyone have any advice for me running Pathfinder for kids?

I'd keep the rules light starting out, but also let her know you're doing that. Tell her that if she feels she can handle more, she should speak up. Likewise, if she's getting confused or you sense she's frustrated with the rules, dial it back. Different kids react differently to rules, so if it's a game like Pathfinder, I'd be mindful of the difficulty level. My two cents.

I hope you two have loads of fun!

[quote="Captain_Nibbz"]

I sent you a PM.

keep the level of "grit' in the setting (violence, moral complexity, etc) on par with whatever kinds of TVshows the kid watches and enjoys. (or books/comics if your kid is more a reader) so you don't freak them out, but also don't make it seem like you are patronizing them. this also lets you make the setting deeper and more complex as they get older.

a 12 year old can probably handle quite a bit, but every kid is different.